How it works

Captions and subtitles with Adobe Flash

Overview

This how-to guide instructs how to create a Flash video file with closed captions or subtitles using Adobe Flash Professional CS5.5. For additional information, see Adobe’s resources on captioning video in Adobe Flash CS5.5. Also, see Adobe’s resources for captioning in Flash CS4 and Flash CS3.

1. Open a new document and choose the ActionScript 3.0 document choice in the Start panel.

2. Import your video by selecting File > Import > Import Video. If your video is not already in a Flash FLV or F4V format, you will need to convert it using Adobe Media Encoder or another file converter.

3. Select a skin that supports captions (you can change the skin at a later time by selecting the FLVPlayback component on the stage and editing the skin property).

4. Wait for the video import to complete.

5. If necessary, resize the player by selecting Modify > Transform so that it fits in the white workspace.

7. Select the FLVPlaybackCaptioning component and in the Component Parameters section, set showCaptions to true and enter the name and location of the caption file in the source field (if you placed it in the same directory as the media file, then just enter the filename).

autoLayout specifies if the FLVPlaybackCaptioning component controls caption area layout. The default is true.captionTargetName specifies the TextField or MovieClip instance name containing captions. The default is auto.flvPlaybackName specifies the FLVPlayback instance name that you want to caption. The default is auto.showCaptions specifies if captions display. The default is true.simpleFormatting limits formatting instructions of the caption file when set to true. The default is false.source specifies the name and location of the caption file.